The Weird SMX Scenarios Heading into SuperMotocross World Championship Final in Las Vegas

Onto the 250SMX Class, where Seth Hammaker took a five-point penalty for jumping through a red light in Charlotte. Seth is 14 points down, give him five more and he would be ahead of Haiden Deegan and down nine points, which would mean if he won the final race he would win the title over Jo Shimoda (Hammaker would have 2-2-1 finishes and would win a tie breaker with Shimoda, who could have 3-1-2 finishes). Also, if Levi Kitchen doesn’t get a one-position penalty in Charlotte, Jo finishes fourth there, which would cost him two points. Everything matters in this scenario.

Same for Haiden Deegan. The Levi Kitchen knockdown cost him massive points. Down 10 points on Jo Shimoda, Deegan needs Shimoda to finish third or worse to win the title if he wins the race. Remember the difference between the SMX Playoff races and a usual SX or MX title: usually, the only big money on the line is the team’s title bonus. Now everyone on the gate has something to gain, even just finishing third in the series pays big money, and the triple points mean one good result makes a massive difference in pay. Look at Pierce Brown last year as an example. In other words, every rider has a reason to be aggressive and try to maximize their own score (as Kitchen tried, and failed, to do) instead of just let the title contenders go and settle it themselves. There’s a motivated pack out there and with triple points, anything could happen.